It’s fair to state that COVID-19 caught the world’s healthcare systems unprepared to react quickly enough to the highly contagious virus. In the past few months, Health Tech Insider’s wearable and health tech coverage has covered several new health and medical solutions developed to respond to the virus, as well as new uses for existing wearables and other technology. Proxxi’s Halo wristband that helps people maintain social distancing is an example of an existing industrial safety wearable that has found new applications with COVID-19.
A new survey by the San Francisco-based mental healthcare company Ginger found that COVID-19 is accelerating the shift to telehealth in mental health. In earlier studies, Ginger reported employees ranked texting and video chat as the most important ways to access mental health services. Workers increasingly turn to online mental health telehealth service, due in large part to increased workplace stress related to COVID-19.
In a Ginger survey during the last week in March, 38% of employees reported trying an online mental health service. Notably of that number, 40% had tried mental telehealth in the previous week, 24% in the previous month, and 11% in the previous two months. More to the point, 70% of the workers who had tried online telehealth for the first time in the previous month used the service because of COVID-19 stress. Overall, 80% of employees reported they would be more likely to use online mental health services if they could do so via their smartphones.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak Ginger report significant increases in the number of active members in the mental telehealth service (nearly 50%). The number of sessions increased in February and March by 50% and the intensity of the sessions rose 12% based on Ginger Coaches’ ratings.
Telehealth deliver of mental health services has made significant progress in recent years, but now COVID-19 is accelerating the growth.
